Up Close with Atlas Ocean Voyages’ Epicurean Expeditions

Atlas Ocean Voyages offers three distinct types of expedition cruise voyages. The most self-explanatory is its polar expeditions. But its epicurean and cultural expeditions are less understood by the travel trade and potential cruisers. Travel Market Report contributor Toby Saltzman recently sailed on one of the line’s Mediterranean epicurean expeditions onboard World Traveller and discovered an adventure that transcended every anticipation.

As one who has experienced many cruises by lines focused on culinary initiatives, I admittedly approached this 12-day voyage to marquee and rare boutique ports in Italy, France, Spain and Greece skeptical if it would meet the aspirations of a cruise that would give a sense of gastronomic exploration. By the end of World Traveller’s expedition – feeling enchanted by experiences along the way, and satiated after tasting luscious wines, artisanal cheeses, fragrant honeys, fish, seafood, savory meats, and scrumptious pastries – I understood why Atlas deservedly won the Seatrade Expedition Cruise Initiative of the Year award in 2023 for innovating a program that combined immersive culinary adventures with cultural pursuits.

Elegant, intimate yachts

On first impression, World Traveller wowed guests as we arrived to see its sleek, 423-foot-long body berthed in an exclusive area of Italy’s Civitavecchia Port restricted to yachts and small vessels. Technologically built to navigate adventurous expeditions through remote Arctic and Antarctic conditions, World Traveller – Atlas’ third ship, launched in 2022 as a sister ship to World Navigator – is elegantly designed with luxe interiors for congenial mingling of guests. At 10,000 gross-registered-tons, this yacht can call at small ports and restricted island bays. Thanks to its passenger size, World Traveller is among the few cruise ships allowed to take passengers on guided excursions through protected destinations like Cinque Terre, a UNESCO World Heritage Site with only one road connecting its five tiny villages.

Our first taste of Atlas’ hospitality was the welcoming crew, proffering Champagne and sandwiches in a private terminal located mere steps from the gangway.

Keen for comfort as much as gastronomy, I was enamored by the glamorous yacht aesthetic evoked by the lacquered walnut interior of my 270-square-foot cabin, with its separate sitting area leading to a balcony set with a table and two chaises. The space – including a marble bathroom with single sink – was amply organized to house me and my friend, two solo women sharing accommodations for the first time. We loved the shower with its rain head and invigorating body jets, the luxe French L’Occitane amenities, and the satiny Lameirinho Portuguese bed linens.  

Epicurean immersion

To whet appetites for epicurean experiences ahead, expedition leader and “master foodie” Mara Papatheodorou explained how – over aeons of time – the sun, sea, and soil impacted people’s culinary and cultural traditions.

Renowned as Bon Appetit magazine’s former food editor and culinary travel television host, Papatheodorou told us, “Behind every taste is a tradition, behind every tradition is a taste. The taste comes from what grows in the area, and the tradition comes from people’s culture and what they do with it.”

The engaging culinary expert described five natural elements that historically nurtured peoples’ traditional dishes – salt, honey, olives for olive oil, grapes for wine, and grains for bread and pastas – and how their flavors were influenced by location, from sea level to mountain top.

As we prepared to experience ports along the sailings’ four-country itinerary, she explained that we would be tasting diverse regional flavors.

Guided expeditions along the way would include joining World Traveller’s Executive Chef Valeriu Surugiu on a quest for local delicacies, plus tours to wineries, specialty cheese and meat producers, as well as archeological and culturally significant sites. En route, daily changing menus would include regional specialties.

The deep immersion into the region’s epicurean cultures started the first evening with demonstrations by famed Italian guest Chef Marcello Zaccaria, aka the “ambassador of Italian cuisine.” As the Executive Chef of Academia Barilla – the legendary Barilla pasta company’s culinary school – prepared Pasta alla Norma, a delicious mix of Tuscan tomatoes and roasted eggplant topped with grated ricotta salata cheese and basil leaf – Zaccaria answered guests’ questions and shared recipes.  

Though cacao – the basic essence of chocolate – is not indigenous to Italy, France, Spain or Greece, several renowned European chocolate makers – including Perugina, Ferrero and Valrhona – import cacao beans to infuse with local flavors and rich dairy creams for their own signature chocolates. Guests got to meet artisan chocolatier Julieta Davey – aka Mama Cacao – known for crafting exquisite chocolate creations, as well as nurturing sustainable cacao bean farming in Costa Rica. Davey demonstrated the process of transforming crushed cacao beans into edible chocolate. Along the way, Davey’s chocolate tasting session cultivated guests’ palates to judge aroma, texture, flavor, and aftertaste.

Visual and culinary feasts

Ultimately, World Traveller’s itinerary evolved into enchanting feasts of visual, as well as culinary delights.  

From Tuscany’s Portoferraio port on Elba – where Napolean Bonaparte fostered lucrative mining economies, as well as wine and olive oil production, now celebrated for distinct Elba appellations – we visited Tenuta La Chiusa Winery for a splendid wine tasting accompanied by samples of local Pecorino Romano cheese, olive oil with truffles, local biscotti, and wine cakes.

From the tiny, medieval fishing port of Porto Venere, remotely located on Tuscany’s rugged Ligurian coast, we visited three of Cinque Terre’s cluster of five villages. In Monterosso – the largest of the five villages – we dined at Buranco Restaurant. Overlooking vineyards terraced into mountainsides, while immersed in air perfumed by lemon trees, we indulged in crisp local wines with creamy Mozzarella cheese, mouthwatering pasta drizzled with fragrant pesto sauce, and crunchy biscotti. Just being here felt like paradise.

After a day of exploring Nice – easy to do on foot from World Traveller’s berth near the boulevard leading to the Old Town – we were treated to World Traveller’s signature cultural immersion event, a rooftop cocktail party styled with French joie de vivre. While overlooking the Riviera’s sparkling Cote d’Azure, and entertained by a live band, we tasted umpteen Mediterranean specialties, from fried zucchini florets to grilled shrimp, arancini rice balls, and vegetables dipped in spicey hummus.  

From the French port of Montpellier, a gastronomic tour of Sete included a market visit enroute to the elegant boulevard housing Bistrot du Marche. There, Mara Papatheodorou introduced us to the region’s prized oysters, signature pasta, and sugary finger-long cookies.

In Barcelona – where options included seeing Gaudi’s formidable Sagrada Familia among other architectural gems, as well as tours to local eateries – World Traveller’s exclusive berth, located conveniently alongside the boulevard leading to Las Ramblas, allowed others to explore independently. Arriving at La Boqueria market, my friend and I relished the rush of vendors setting up their produce, breads, and prepared foods.  

From Mahon on Menorca – one of Spain’s Balearic Islands – our scenic tour included ancient ruins and Christian cultural sites as well as the Subaida dairy farm to see their cheese-making facility and taste local varieties of cheese and cured meats. Centuries ago, people living on this windy isle learned to mix wine with aromatic herbs and berries from the abundant Juniper trees to distil gin. On this hot day, we welcomed a chilly sip of Menorca’s signature Pomade cocktail, a mix of traditional Xoriguer gin with tangy lemonade and ice. 

An expedition to Sicily’s port of Trapani remains one of my epicurean highlights. Behind its 16th-century gates, Marsala is a gem of medieval architecture that remains intact while evolving into a lively hub of shops and eateries. Famed for its Marsala wine that is today produced and marketed by Amaretto Disaronno, Marsala is also home to the renowned Cantine Florio Winery. After learning how the formidable winery built of stone in 1832 started creating and storing Sicilian wines, we walked by hundreds of barrels to a long tasting room, its table set with wine glasses and a buffet of Sicilian foods.

Between tasting varieties of red and white wines, we savored slices of pizza, ciabatta rolls oozing cheese and tomatoes, fat balls of arancini rice stuffed with beef, and the most scrumptious, cream-filled cannolis I’ve ever tasted. Their sweet flavor lingered on my palate as we returned to Trapani, following the coastal route fringed by miles of salt flats, their precious essence drying in brilliant sunshine.   

From Sicily’s port of Messina, the mountain village of Taormina was a total surprise, though I’d visited Taormina several times since 1990 when the main route leading to its ancient amphitheater was a hive of shops selling ceramics painted with lemons or the face of Bacchus, the Roman god of grapes. Today, the village, known as one of the settings for the “White Lotus” series abounds with shops flaunting designer goods.

Back on World Traveller, a guest sommelier explained how sun, sea, and salt impact agriculture on Sicily’s Salina Isle, known for fish, capers, and sweet Malvasia delle Lipari dessert wine. Describing wine as “a glass of happiness,” he guided guests to taste varieties of Sicilian wines including red, white, and rose.

Crete’s tiny port of Chania was a sun-drenched delight, its tiny harbor fringed with al fresco eateries. Though tempted, I resisted, knowing an abundance of gourmet foods awaited back on our yacht.  Later, while relaxing on my balcony, I recalled Mara Papatheodorou telling us the goal of our epicurean expedition was to entice guests to explore, engage, and feel enriched by our culinary experiences.

Based on that, this World Traveller epicurean expedition absolutely succeeded.

A few details

All of Atlas’ expedition cruises include unlimited beverages including fine wines, spirits and craft beers, a stocked in-suite mini bar, complimentary room service, L’Occitane bath amenities, Atlas Ocean Voyages backpack per person, pre-paid gratuities, and one complimentary cultural immersion program.

Excursions on polar expeditions are also included but cost extra on epicurean and cultural expedition sailings.